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When to step up?

Hi all, just started playing LoL and having a whail of a time. This is my first MOBA game and the whole playstyle is alot to take in, anyway back to the topic. I have been playing co-op vs ai games recently mainly going AP mid or support bot (Annie or Alistar/Kayle respectfully). As i am only level 6 at the moment is it worth jumping into player games or wait till i get more practice? The bot games are getting abit boring as nothing "exciting and unexpected" happens.

If i do go into player games, is there anything majorly different? I've read about warding key areas like Barron/Dragon and through jungle areas to keep an eye on the middle section. Also any other champions who you think i would enjoy?

If its beginner: Go to intermediate
If its intermediate: Go to PvP, you will fail at first but it is advisable to begin early with PvP.
The bots are nothing like real people who can react to things you do. Bots only run away when you damage them and attack when not.

In the early levels nobody wards or jungles, but its good to learn the concept of warding early so you can use it in later levels.

There will be flamers in PvP, but just ignore them. If they say you play bad than thats true, you just started playing, so its not weird you play bad.
Try your best and have fun!

You can head into PvP whenever you like, the experience is not totally dissimilar sometimes. The biggest change will be that human players will punish you for mistakes which the AI won't - with the threat of getting ganked increased, just remember to play more conservatively at first.

Most importantly, communicate with your team before the match begins and at the very beginning of the game. Ask them which lane you should go, and tell them that you haven't been playing PvP very long.

You're less likely to get flamed later on for any perceived 'mistakes' that people think you've committed; even players who do like to whine and blame others will appreciate it if you lay your cards down at the beginning of the game. This will help you avoid situations where you head over to the middle lane and some other champ runs up behind you saying 'FFS noob go to bot omg' and starts pinging the minimap.

Try to practise with wards and such, but try not to overcomplicate things. When I first started playing LoL I watched lots of videos and streams, learning all the pro tricks and strategies, and by the time I played my first PvP game I was so focused on wards and baiting and calling MIA and buffs etc. that I became unco-ordinated and distracted.

Just farm your lane, focus on last hits, and don't be too aggressive looking for a kill - trust me, at low ELOs especially, your main cause of death won't be from enemies making a co-ordinated and brilliant play, but from enemies who were given an easy kill because you over-extended yourself or made some kind of mistake.

Shrug it off and continue playing and play a Champion who provides abilities which are easy to use and be effective with - there may be nuances and skill involved when getting off the perfect stun with Taric, for example, but at the end of the day if you heal your lane partner and stun an enemy champion when you can then you can't go far wrong!

Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated. Decided to jump into the deep end and have 3/3 wins so far so i can't be doing too bad. On my last game though i went 22/5/1 as Warwick and at the end of the match was getting flamed silly by the opposing team by being a "smurf"? What on earth is that?

A Smurf is someones second or third account (or fourth of fifth, even seen sixth). A lot of people have them.
Those people most of the time play much better than the newbies (not so weird as they know the game already). And some of them dont get the point of low levels and flame others for playing bad.

Dont get scared of playing PVP because other players say your noob. Quite frankly: You have nothing to lose. U cant learn by doing what u allready can constantly. U learn by challenging urself. So if u feel like its time to go PVP u are allready starting to late.

Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated. Decided to jump into the deep end and have 3/3 wins so far so i can't be doing too bad. On my last game though i went 22/5/1 as Warwick and at the end of the match was getting flamed silly by the opposing team by being a "smurf"? What on earth is that?

People who know the term Smurf cant be new to the game themselves. So they are smurfs aswell? xD